samo II

They play two top seven teams and also the only two teams in worse form than them across the next four; if they can’t get a win before March, will they pull the trigger on this new lad? Surely can’t keep someone who has taken them from 4th to the bottom half inside three months?

TBF give them some credit; they beat Forest Green... .. based in Nailsworth, population 5,794 - the smallest place to host a league team by population.

May be the night game I’m thinking of in all fairness - it’s a while back and my memory is somewhat hazy... And my one big hope from all of this is it sets a fire under the question of what exactly the EFL is doing when I comes to assessing the credibility of potential owners. It is pretty clear from the detail now out in the open the pair who traded Bury for a pound were both clearly not interested in the long term stability and survival of the club; if this is obvious now, why wasn’t it then? And while I hold no love for the blue few down the road, you look at the situation they now find themselves in, and you wonder how carefully the EFL assessed the intentions and capacity of their owners too - I may have zero time for them, and hope the head down and loiter in league two forever, but you have to be concerned at a number of clubs with stewards I’m unsure are aiming to maintain their involvement long term, the sags included.

Remember this game if I’m not mistaken - Matt Hill’s debut and Soren Anderson scoring our equaliser, I believe. Unbelievable to think that two decades later Bury (a Division One/Championship team at the time) would be in this situation. The scenario surrounding their demise stinks of the kind of disaster capitalism that many ‘businessmen’ engage in, and for me is a lasting stain on the EFL, as they ultimately proved useless as arbiters of who should be allowed to manage what are community institutions at their heart. A sad, sad day and I hope we don’t see another soon with Bolton.

Hope not. Might be in a monitory but never what to play them again.

That’s tragic about Bury - no word on Bolton either and not much time left.

I thought that too, though I did hear it said that in those 14 days they can’t be taken over, and it would be near impossible for them to currently offer proof that they could continue. At this stage it is all proper confusing though, so not really sure of what will take place. If two league one sides fold will play havoc with the league tbh.

Only way it really works is in ‘closed systems’ like the NFL, but there isn’t really any prospect of that happening in English football. I agree that imposing one on the UK isn’t likely a viable solution, and regardless; the FFP rules we have haven’t stopped clubs falling into this position. Chasing promotion/glory is an expensive business, and with the rewards for reaching the promised land so great, clubs will take risks. Someone mentioned Villa above; they threw everything they had at getting back up and succeeded, while Stoke look to have failed - I’m curious as to how the Potters are doing ‘under the hood’ as carrying players like Butland who must be on very decent wages while looking miles off promotion can’t be good for them.

I see what they mean about ‘family club’; young ones being shown first hand how to menace a former player who helped fire you to two promotions.

Shameless. Right at the wire the owner (who is clearly in this to make whatever he can out of the situation, not the good of the club) is essentially saying “not my problem; why don’t you all stump up” to everyone concerned. The EFL needs to be asked very serious questions about how they vet and allow people to become owners, as with Bury and Bolton they have failed utterly at assessing if the stewards of two clubs are capable.

Don’t worry, folks - we’ll get our comeuppance when they overtake us and use Ashton Gate as their training ground, as their fans keep saying... ? It’s not the ‘biggest’ of things for the club to do, but it is what it is! Made me laugh.

That is savage.

They play Plymouth next; basement battle already - could go bottom if they lose.

All this attendance chat really is hilarious. Ultimately they could have taken 10k; end result is their team comprehensively lost to the (full 11 changes) second string of a struggling Championship team. We could have taken the sum total of one man and a sausage roll when we visited, but at least our currently midtable Championship team well beat QPR’s first team, and will play them again later in the year too. If I were a sag (perish the thought...) I’d be far more concerned over my side improving its currently poor league form and building towards getting out of the league it’s in than comparing gate sizes with us. As I said before; we can start this pointless dick measuring over gates once QPR away is a routine league game for them every year as it is for us, not a glamorous once-in-a-generation cup tie like yesterday was for them. And it they want a better comparison on that front? How many did we take to Man City last year? Seems their second round QPR game had the same level of meaning to them as our semi-final in the same competition last year against the Premiership leaders for all the noise they made about it before hand. Never has the phrase ‘mind the gap’ seemed more appropriate.

The important part here is “League game” - they can come back at us when a trip to QPR is a routine second tier match for them, not a ‘glamour tie’ in the league cup. They really have zero perspective, don’t they?

And that’s with suspensions and injuries - good stuff.

Top result, and having watched most of it, a very good performance too - more like the second half against QPR. Lots of excellent interplay in the first half, and smart game management second - happy with that. Kelly looks a hell of a player, and like the look of that keeper too. COYR

We were very poor first half, and that goal basically saved us. After half time QPR looked panicked, and what was a tremendous move nailed them. The third was the icing on the cake. If we can play like that with a depleted team but somehow get a three goal win, then all is not lost.

Weimann looks a bargain. QPR’s confidence looks shot.

We were utter shite that half. And yet... QPR really are bad; we need to capitalise on this - we’re lucky to still be in it, let alone ahead! COYR

Jonny Smith puts Tranmere one up at Swindle!

Look forward to seeing how McGoalsky does against them...

Hadn’t realised the details; that is bleak. It will be very interesting if they struggle this year; can’t imagine they have much in the way of back-up resources were they in desperate need of reinforcements, and some of the natives seem restless already.

They might not be in active trouble, but I think it is pretty clear to see, even if you take away the rivalry and try to view it objectively, that they are in no better position to push on than any other bottom half League One team, and they’ll need something extraordinarily on the pitch to progress beyond that. The two promotions and the takeover seem to have left them with a bit of a warped sense of what they are in a position to achieve, and that’s what is making this so hilarious.

I’m not too disappointed with that line up tbh (though Desilva already being injured is annoying/worrying). While see why people might be keen on shaking things up, it’s the second game, and with Plymouth on Tuesday likely being a decent chance for changes, might as well see it the side we the coaches want to use has jelled since last weekend. COYR